Migrating to new Mac

[DThompson55]

First thing I did to start migrating to my nw Mac was use AirPort to copy my Pictures folder from the old machine to the new machine. Then I just dragged Pictures from Downloads, where AirPort put it, to my home folder replacing the Pictures folder that was there. This apparently broke something because when I try to set my user avatar from photos (Apple Menu/Preferences/Users...) it says no photos found.

How can I get the Pictures folder to behave again? By which I mean show the photos that are in that folder?

Also, Since this was the first thing I migrated to the new mac, and it didn't work, I imagine this will be more difficult than AirPorting files over. Any hints, tips or articles for migrating to a new machine?

 

[Mike Boreham]

You could start with this

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204350

 

[DThompson55]

You could start with this

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204350

Excellent - Happily, I have been using Time Machine religiously on my old Mac. So, if I understand Time Machine, it will restore all of my files to the old username on my new machine. I think it's going to be a problem because the username on my old Mac is different than the username on my new Mac. The new Mac forced the username to be all lower case, whereas the old machine was mixed case. But I'll report back when and if that becomes a problem.

 

[deeddawg]

Excellent - Happily, I have been using Time Machine religiously on my old Mac. So, if I understand Time Machine, it will restore all of my files to the old username on my new machine. I think it's going to be a problem because the username on my old Mac is different than the username on my new Mac.

That's why you use Migration Assistant to *read* from the TimeMachine backup and set things up right (including file ownership and permission) rather than use the Restore from TimeMachine path.

BTW the username itself isn't usually relevant, but the underlying userID (numeric) is important. There are ways to move things around and fix permissions, but they get a little more technical -- and really it's usually just simpler to use Migration Assistant -- point it at a TM backup and select what stuff you want to bring onto the new system and what you maybe need to leave behind.

 

[DThompson55]

That's why you use Migration Assistant to *read* from the TimeMachine backup and set things up right (including file ownership and permission) rather than use the Restore from TimeMachine path.

BTW the username itself isn't usually relevant, but the underlying userID (numeric) is important. There are ways to move things around and fix permissions, but they get a little more technical -- and really it's usually just simpler to use Migration Assistant -- point it at a TM backup and select what stuff you want to bring onto the new system and what you maybe need to leave behind.

OK so that didn't work as expected. I just used time machine to migrate just my Pictures, just so I could see how it would work without spending a lot of time. What happened what it created a new user DanT, and put the Pictures there. My existing user dtt cannot access them. I expect this will happen with all of the files I migrate to the new Mac.

Any ideas how to access the files that were migrated over to the new Mac once I've used Migration Assistant? Or will it leave me with two user accounts on the new Mac neither of which can see the contents of the other?

Also, Migration Assistant seems to want to create a new user account each time I run it? So I guess I can't really do a piecemeal migration, like doing the photos first and then some other stuff next.

I think I'm back to using AirPort. Migration Assistant is probably perfect for people who want to migrate emails and photos.

 

[deeddawg]

Migration Assistant seems to want to create a new user account each time I run it? So I guess I can't really do a piecemeal migration, like doing the photos first and then some other stuff next.

Right. Typically you will use Migration Assistant once, *during* the system setup process. It's not really intended (AFAIK) to perform piecemeal migrations of a little here and a little there, it's meant to be used once since it creates the user account it migrates the files into.

Is there a particular reason you're not just moving all your relevant content over at once?

 

[DThompson55]

Migration Assistant... it's actually worse than what I originally thought. It *said* is copied files to a new user on the new machine, but when I looked under /Users, there was only my original user account. So I think it copied the files somewhere, but it feels like the best thing to do is to wipe the disk and start over since I don't know what state the machine is actually in at this point.

 

[deeddawg]

Migration Assistant... it's actually worse than what I originally thought. It *said* is copied files to a new user on the new machine, but when I looked under /Users, there was only my original user account.

The other user folder is likely there and you're merely prevented from seeing it due to permissions.

Migration Assistant is intended to be used to set up a new user on the computer. That's why it is made available during initial system setup -- it then creates and populates the main user account.

It's not really intended to copy stuff from one computer to another in a piecemeal fashion.

the best thing to do is to wipe the disk and start over since I don't know what state the machine is actually in at this point.

Yes, that would be the wise choice. Then use Migration Assistant during the setup process. Or share/copy stuff via shared folders between the two macs after the fact for anything you didn't migrate during setup.

 

[26139]

Migration Assistant... it's actually worse than what I originally thought. It *said* is copied files to a new user on the new machine, but when I looked under /Users, there was only my original user account. So I think it copied the files somewhere, but it feels like the best thing to do is to wipe the disk and start over since I don't know what state the machine is actually in at this point.

The idea with migration assistant is that you run it ONCE.
It prompts you to set up a user account on your new mac and then transfer all your stuff over.
If you've already created a "new" user account on that new Mac, you can erase it and just use the one created by migration assistant for the time machine transfer.

 

[DThompson55]

Thanks everyone - I did a clean reinstall of the OS, then just the apps I really need, then AirDropped only the files I needed from the old computer (being careful not to step on my Pictures folder). The end result is that I have a lot more free storage, no old apps, and I know this new machine is in a clean state without an additional user account that I will some day forget the password to. It only took a few hours, and I've got piece of mind. Oh, and I cut a 1/4 inch off the edges of my privacy filter so it fits the slightly smaller screen.

The only slight complication was FireFox at first replicated all of its bookmarks automatically, and later forgot them. But I have backups of backups, so that was an easy fix.

I'm good to go!